Apertus has unveiled new major updates regarding technological and design solutions for AXIOM, the world’s first open-hardware and open-software cinema camera. Read on to learn more about this fascinating camera.
Backed by a team of experts from a large swathe of technological and artistic fields (developers, filmmakers, engineers and artists), the apertus° project is stepping forward to the next level of manufacturing and delivering of the AXIOM camera.
cinema5D has been following the progression of this ambitious project from its beginnings, and it is indeed fascinating to see this open-source camera taking shape. It’s actually finally starting to look like a cinema camera!
AXIOM camera main features:
– 4K resolution
– Super35 sensor
– Global shutter
– Up to 15 stops dynamic range
– Up to 300 fps
– 12 bit
– Target price well below $10,000
You can find out more about the sensor’s capabilities HERE.
Current Status of Development
The AXIOM Beta camera has 3 versions regarding structure and functionality:
Developer kit (DK): A skeleton frame provides support to the electronics, lens mount (e-mount) and tripod, but lack any easy access to the AXIOM Beta’s electronics and connectors.
Compact (CP): A solid but lightweight aluminum layer around the electronics with several mount points and future expansion slots. Great for rig integration and field protection.
Extended (EX): A more ergonomic structure and options for an integrated recording device (AXIOM Recorder), ideal for shoulder mounted operation.
According to the team, 27 AXIOM DK have been built and more are being manufactured. The main focus now is to increase speed of electronic component production by using more automated workflows.
Electronics production automated workflows
It’s important to note that, due to the open-source nature of the camera, the project develops due to the support of a whole community of fully-dedicated enthusiasts. That’s the main reason for the acceleration of the development progress as described below.
Design
The design looks much clearer now and is composed of different potential shapes, all of which look amazing.
AXIOM basic design
Recording uncompressed 4K raw
The new AXIOM USB 3.0 plugin module can transform any computer with USB 3.0 connectivity into an AXIOM recorder with uncompressed Raw 4K capabilities. One AXIOM USB 3.0 module can provide users with a bandwidth of around 400MB/S.
The recording can be done with an INTEL NUC apparatus – an ideal platform for this camera considering its compact size and functionality. The NUC provides serious computing power and can be combined with individual SSDs, or larger, RAID-based solutions with multiple high-capacity SSDs simply by using off-the-shelf hardware.
The AXIOM USB 3.0 plugin module
Final stages of CAD design
Thick, CNC-milled aluminum parts will give the camera electronics considerable protection in tough filmmaking productions.
The AXIOM Beta Compact Shell (“cage”)
The Shell will provide filmmakers with many more mounting points, as well as added protection and flexibility.
AXIOM Shell
The AXIOM Beta Extended
An option for filmmakers who require a highly ergonomic camera body ready for a full range of shooting scenarios, such as handheld, shoulder, crane-mounted and more.
AXIOM Beta Extended
Availability and prices
The AXIOM team is currently shipping to developers and early adopters. A more mature version with a proper enclosure, camera controls, etc. will become available at a later stage. It is important to note that you do not need to be a programmer in order to use the AXIOM Beta.
Currently there are a few options to purchase the camera:
AXIOM Developer Kit: This version of the camera is suitable for anyone who’d like to work on development. Price: €3,990.00.
AXIOM Production Ready: The more user-friendly AXIOM Beta Compact ships with a CNC-milled aluminum enclosure and is ideally suited to photo and video production environments. This version is still under development but you can be notified when it becomes available. Price: €5,990.00.
You can also custom-build the camera yourself, but be aware that this option is for heavy-duty DIY users who are the most curious and are not afraid to get their hands dirty.
You can find more detailed information HERE.
According to the AXIOM team, both versions of the camera deliver superb image quality, high frame rates, rich color science properties (developed with the help of the Magic Lantern team), a friendly form factor, and flexible integration and customization.
Check out some sample footage from the AXIOM in the video below:
The future: a call to action for developers
It seems that this tremendous project is moving fast, and the AXIOM team wants you to join the development! You can sign up to the apertus° Lab and be a part of something great that has the potential to disrupt the professional camera world.
For all you skeptics out there, remember that the first prototype from RED Digital Cinema in 2005 was no more than a few plates of aluminum with some hand-built circuit boards attached to a computer.
What it your perspective regarding the AXIOM’s place in the cinema camera market? Let us know in the comments.

My name is Nico Edwards, and I’m a blog-taught filmmaker seeking to tell compelling character-driven stories of people living creative and alternative lifestyles. Sea Gypsies – The Far Side of the World is my first feature length film, premiering at Telluride Mountain film Festival. After its international premiere at Banff Mountain Film Festival, it was chosen to tour the world in over 40 countries with the Banff on Tour and Ocean Film Festival on Tour along with about 30 other film festivals so far, where it has won a handful number of awards.
Name and age: Nico Edwards, 34 years old.
Currently based in: Tonga. But the sailboat I live on is heading north, so never in one spot for too long.
Language (s) spoken: English.
Occupation: Full-time filmmaker, part-time editor and, until rather recently, worked in a cubicle at a battery company
How did you get started in our industry? A couple of years ago, I had just about the most boring job imaginable: buying bulk chemicals for a battery company. My job (like so many office jobs) did allow me a whole lot of free time though – a rather obscene amount as long as I looked busy and didn’t wander too far from the cube. So, I devoted that time to watching YouTube tutorials and reading video blogs such as cinema5D, NoFilmSchool and Newshooter. The aim was to improve on my hobby of editing together my little vacation videos. Eventually, I got together some better equipment (Canon Rebel T2i), a couple of cheap but decent lenses (Canon 50mm f/1.8, Canon 24-105 f/4 IS, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8) and a used Glidecam 2000 from Ebay, and started making videos on the weekends for small businesses – either for free or cost – just for the experience. After a few of those, I felt like I was ready to quit my job, find some adventure or story and make a feature length documentary film… I really like documentaries, and figured: how hard could it possibly be? I’m so thankful I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into, or I would never have started.
Current assignments: I just wrapped up a year of film festivals for Sea Gypsies, and was able to secure distribution as well as a bit of financing for the next one, and so I’m lucky enough to be starting production on the sequel in two weeks.
What is your dream assignment / job in our industry, and what are you really passionate about? I really like making documentaries about the ocean. It’s a specific niche, but I love the freedom one can only really get in the unownable ocean and think that compelling characters are attracted to a life at sea. I would like to keep documenting the various stories that are out there just floating around for free.
I also think that it’s one of the few ways to make a visually appealing, highly entertaining film that requires no connections and does not cost a lot. You don’t need permits, there are few if any laws out in the ocean to worry about, there is dramatic scenery, no rent, no distractions and plenty of time to get your cast comfortable with being on camera all the time. Sea Gypsies was made for less than 1/20th of the cost of the other documentary features it screens with at festivals. In fact, the whole film broke even financially just from the screening fees earned at film festivals.
That said, it would be nice to have a bigger budget and a bit more help in the future. I did Sea Gypsies myself because that’s really the only way it was going to get made, and it was a fantastic experience wearing all the hats: director, writer, DP, narrator, producer, editor, etc. But having a life would be nice too, and collaboration brings about better efficiency and makes stories far more dynamic.
In the work that you are presenting us, now that it is done, what would you have done differently throughout the production? Making Sea Gypsies the way I did, everything was geared towards top image quality throughout the entire process, and if I were to do it again, I would cut back on that for editing. I would have edited with low-res proxy files for one starters, as I wasted resources on cramming an obscene amount of RAM and a top-of-the-line GPU into a massive gaming laptop so that I would be able to edit 10-bit HD files at full resolution with total mobility. It’s nice to see exactly how it’s going to look as you edit, but it wasted time and resources. I would have also gotten a custom-made music score. Editing the film to found music created the nightmare of then having to get those licenses, and though I really lucked out with so many great bands getting interested in the project, it took a whole lot of time. One track I really did not want to part with took 15 months to get the license – I had to wear them down like water on granite. But if you shed all pride and get very comfortable with constant rejection, you can accomplish a lot.
You chose to shoot your project with the Canon 5D Mark III. Can you please describe why you chose to use it, what was your workflow, were you happy with the results and will you ever go that way again? I shot Sea Gypsies on a Canon 5D Mark III – video, time lapses and stills, in temperatures ranging from 40+ Celsius in the tropical jungles to easily -20 Celsius in a hurricane of frozen saltwater in Antarctica. It went everywhere with me, from scuba diving 170 ft (51 meters) underwater in an Odyssee housing, to taking time lapses all night at the top of a volcano, to being jolted around on a Glidecam smashing through waves on a chase boat, all on the same single camera. I can’t think of another camera that could be so versatile. After a year of that, the corrosion was so bad the screws were all falling out on their own, but it still works fine!
My workflow for Sea Gypsies is scary to think back on, though. Coincidently, I got the idea to go make a film just at the time that some wonderful geniuses figured out how to hack into the Canon 5D Mark III to output full beautiful RAW video. They called their wonderful free product Magic Lantern RAW. I had never seen such beauty in such an affordable package: 14 stops of dynamic range in full HD, with that buttery Canon still-image look. So I got a 5D3, disregarded all those “it might turn your camera into a paperweight” warnings, and started tinkering around with the first nightly builds for the RAW module. It was a total nightmare of a workflow, but a supremely gorgeous nightmare. I think it really helped that I had no real idea what I was doing, or training in a superior workflow with which to compare it to. All I knew was that I was getting a stunning image I could easily grade myself in Adobe Lightroom for a tiny fraction of the cost of a professional setup. I also had way more time than money, so spending hours with a hacked workflow was more doable than magically coming up with the $40,000+ it would have taken at the time to get a video camera that shot RAW. The only camera I can think might have been comparable was the C500 with an external recorder, but it would never have been able to go everywhere like the 5D did.
Here was my workflow for Sea Gypsies – much if it taken from the cinema5D guide on shooting RAW on the 5D3.
5D3 and Magic Lantern module pumps thousands of strange unreadable picture files to CF card, which I then transcoded to DNG images in another free enthusiast-created program (raw2dng).
Grade the first image in Adobe Lightroom, and apply the look to entire sequence. Then import the entire sequence to After Effects and export as DNX 422 after having fully taken advantage of the extremely wide dynamic range of 14 stops or so. I couldn’t do ProRes due to only having a PC, which way cheaper and more powerful. It would take roughly 9 hours to render a day’s worth of shooting (30 minutes of footage) so I had it work while I slept.
I was able to edit this off of five 4TB Touro 7200 rpm drives ($140 each at B&H) that I connected via a USB 3.0 hub.
Stitching together thousands of photos into video in After Effects didn’t really bother me. What was really annoying was having to record all audio on an external recorder and manually syncing it to the camera’s beep as it started recording the first frame, or by looking at lips if I could not hear the beep. Just had to remember to start recording the audio first, before I hit record on the camera. Also, a 64GB CF card only lasted 10 minutes, often got too hot and stopped, or became corrupted with the dreaded pink frames. All told, I created about 200 hours (20TB) of video that took months to manually sync to the audio I recorded separately.
The lenses I used for Sea Gypsies were the Canon 24-105 f/4 IS, Canon 50mm f/1.4, Canon 70-200 f/2.8, Canon 100mm Macro f/2.8, Canon 16-35 f/2.8. Audio was recorded with a Rode NTG3 going to a Zoom H6N that I had bolted to the Wooden Camera cage on the 5D3. I also had to have heaps of ND filters and polarizers to make the setup work.
After the shooting was all done, I sold most of my gear, rented a really really really cheap hotel room in Bangkok and edited Sea Gypsies around the clock, 7 days a week. I had all meals delivered to me and rarely left the room for fear of my laptop being stolen. I applied to grants so I could get some money for music licensing and final audio mixing. Thankfully, the footage turned out great and I was able to get a commitment grant from Telluride Mountainfilm that made finishing the film possible.
Interestingly, I was able to track the views of the rough copy on Vimeo and found that most places I applied to for grants never even watched the film. Other than Telluride Mountainfilm, they mostly all charge fees to apply, which was disheartening. I won’t waste my time or money on those scams ever again.
What current camera, lenses and sound equipment do you use? I’m hooked on the post flexibility of RAW and need the dynamic range as the ocean is a super high-contrast environment. Although I’ve never gotten any deals from them (not for lack of trying), I’m pretty much a Canon loyal and, thanks to the success of the first film, I have been able to afford the new Canon C200. This time though, I will be editing with the 8-bit mp4 proxies for the most part, considering Premiere is not yet able to read the 12-bit Canon Raw Lite files. I will be taking back some of the same glass though, with a few additions, now that I can utilize lenses for smaller Super 35 sensors. Canon 24-105mm f/4 IS, Canon 50mm f/1.4, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS, Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS, Canon 10-18mm f/4.5 IS, Rokinon 8mm f/3.5, and a very interesting ultra wide Venus Optics 15mm macro lens. For audio, I will record internally to camera from my trusty Rode NTG 3 (which is a solid beast) and the Rode blimp with dead wombat, which is a must for windy conditions. I will also be taking my trusty 5D3 for stills and time lapses, and maybe a little Magic Lantern. That camera just won’t die – Canon seems to have forgotten to engineer in the planned obsolescence.
What’s your favorite light equipment and why did you choose that kit over other solutions? I used a small $40 LED panel from Ebay/China (Amaran AL-M9). I specifically put shooting RAW at the top of my priority list so I could be a one-man band, and not have to worry as much about lighting and time-consuming setup of lights and diffusers. The RAW is so good I was even able have different color light sources in interviews, needing only to use a gradient white balance filter in Adobe Lightroom when colouring the interviews for Sea Gypsies in post. When you are doing so much yourself, it’s fantastic to have so much ability to fix almost anything in post.
Do you use drones or gimbals in your productions? I use a $250 Glidecam. It’s simple, can take a direct wave hit with no electronics to break or malfunction, and handles really heavy jolting in a way that would give a Movi a stroke. When shooting in really remote conditions for so long, I’ve found it’s really best to avoid a reliance on too many technical bits and bobs. I am also looking into the SwellPro waterproof drone ($1,600), but haven’t committed yet.
What editing systems do you use? Premier Pro CC, After Effects, LR Timelapse, Adobe Lightroom.
How much of your work do you shoot in Log and what is your preferred way of colour correcting? I shoot mostly all Raw, but now I’m using Log 3 with the Canon Raw Lite.
How frequently do you travel, and do you have any tips when it comes to packing your gear? Getting loads of heavy equipment to really remote places is getting increasingly difficult and expensive. I put my tripod and all the less valuable stuff in my 2 checked pelican cases, and fully expect some of their contents to not make it to the final destination. I pack everything I really can’t have stolen – such as camera, media, laptop, hard drives and lenses – in my carry-on backpack. The largest one i’ve found that is technically carry-on legal is the large Tenba Shootout backpack, and it can easily weigh over 60lbs (27kg) when full, which is a problem. I try and have it slung over just one shoulder opposite the gate attendant side when boarding so they can’t see the full size, which also gives the false impression that it’s lighter. But they are getting wise, and a lot of airlines have taken to weighing my carry-on bag when they see me struggling up to the gate with its heft digging into my shoulders. So, the best tip I have learned is to take along a big trench coat with loads of deep pockets, and stuff them with all the really heavy stuff like batteries, metal tools, moveable metal locking arms, lenses, etc. They aren’t weighting people yet in most places, so you can easily get 30lbs (14 kilos) stuffed in a coat. Once in the plane you can just put the stuff back in the case and tuck the coat away. I also sling my camera(s) over my shoulder when I board, behind the coat.
Also it’s a good idea to get a credit card that gives you free checked bags and priority boarding. When your carry-on bag is so heavy the stitching feels like it could fail at any moment, you really want to get on the plane first, so you have a place to stash it out of the way, or they might try and force you to gate-check it. The United Club card, for example, gives you priority boarding and also gives you two free checked bags for domestic and three for international flights. It basically pays for itself in two trips, and I think they treat your luggage better. Spending all the money required to get the bonus miles for these cards can be a chore, but just Google “manufactured spending” for tips and tricks.
If you want to know more about Nico Edwards and Sea Gypsies, head over to seagypsiesmovie.com.

Drone manufacturer DJI is paying a bug bounty of up to $30,000 for users who discover security issues with their products.
It’s been quite a shaky month for DJI in terms of PR. A few weeks ago, a US Army memo became public stating they would cease use of all DJI products and software due to potential security issues. Shortly thereafter, DJI released a new stealth mode that mutes all connections between devices and DJI servers. Coincidence?
The US Army memo that called for a cease of use of DJI products.
Now, DJI are stepping up their security concerns even more with the introduction of the Threat Identification Reward Program, an incentive to cooperate with users and researchers in finding potential security issues with their software.
This bug bounty will primarily be looking at potential threats regarding infringing on private user data such as personal information, flight logs and details regarding captured photos and video. On the DJI side of things, the company will be looking to gather information to avoid app crashing and improve flight safety, including data connected to geofencing, altitude limits and power warnings.
Depending on the severity of the threats found, DJI will be paying out anywhere between $100 and $30,000. A dedicated website is currently under development where you will be able to report potential threats, but in the meantime you can direct your findings to [email protected].
If you’re a white-hat kind of hacker, this bug bounty program could be a good opportunity to cash in on your technical expertise and willingness to help. For more information, check out the official press release HERE.
Have you found any potential issues you will be reporting to DJI? Feel free to share in the comments section below.

A Russian-based company is selling hardware and software hacks that disable the DJI drone No Fly Zone (NFZ) feature that prevents their UAVs from flying in restricted air space.
DJI is among one of the biggest drone manufacturers in the world and therefore regularly faces pressure from the public and authorities for being partially responsible for the safety of their products. Even though full responsibility still remains in the hands of drone pilots, DJI implemented a drone No Fly Zone feature (or Geofence) to their products. It is an informational feature which uses GPS and prevents DJI drone pilots from flying in, or taking off from, restricted zones. There are already many areas in the DJI map where their drones will not be able to fly, like airports for example.
A Russian-based hacker group called CopterSafe reacted to this restriction by selling products that disable the implemented drone No Fly Zones feature on DJI machines. Those are of course of dubious legality – and they offer both software and hardware hacks for various DJI models in various price categories. They even offer software that removes altitude and speed limitations of DJI drones. This seems to be similar to chip-tuning a car, enhancing the machine’s performance at the risk of damaging it or shortening the drone’s or the battery’s life span.
Disclaimer
cinema5D IN NO WAY endorses or recommends hacking or modifying your drone in any shape or form, neither through software nor hardware modifications. We consider this quite dangerous, and there are reasons for the no-fly zones that are pre-programmed into these drones.
According to CopterSafe, the responsibility for flying the drone safely should be fully in the hands of the pilot and not regulated by the manufacturer. They developed these hacks after being unable to fly in one of DJI’s drone No Fly Zones even though they actually had a permit from local authorities. They say that DJI’s no fly zones don’t conform with local laws and that CopterSafe software “allows DJI customers to use their products in the way they want”.
Image: Graham Sheldon
Ethics and legality
The ethics of this software are questionable. We are seeing more and more cases of safety threats related to irresponsible drone pilots, like this one for example. This raises some concerns about whether some DJI customers are responsible enough to decide if their flight is a safety threat or not. In many cases the consequences can be fatal and drone regulations on a global level are poised to become more restrictive because of that.
DJI of course officially discourages disabling this safety feature. They state that disabling the NFZ feature can also affect other features of the drone and can cause unexpected behaviour.
Do you think the NFZ feature is a good idea and flying drones should be restricted by the manufacturer? Or should drone pilots be given the freedom to fly wherever they want? Should you be able to switch off the the drone No Fly Zone feature? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Via Motherboard.

The most common cause for messed-up drone shots (or even accidents) is still human error. So what about taking the human part out of the equation when it comes to pulling off a mighty drone shot? MIT researchers are on the quest for developing the perfect software drone operator. Kick back, relax and have a look at the future.
credit: Kaleb Kendall | unsplash.com/@kalebart
The Software Drone Operator
These are crazy times indeed. Not long ago shooting an aerial was a dearly task to pull off. You would need things like a giant helicopter and a dedicated stabilization system like a Tyler mount. The chopper pilot didn’t come for free, nor did the gasoline or the mandatory airport fee, all of which added up pretty quickly!
Nowadays you can do all this on your own. All you need is a small drone – or not so small, depending on your setup – and you’re all set. If you want to go extra fancy, you’ll hire a two-person crew: a drone operator and a dedicated gimbal operator. This could get you pretty close to the results achieved with the chopper shots of decades gone by.
But one thing was – and still is – present at all times: the human error. Enter the MIT researchers who are aiming to revolutionize the whole concept of flying and operating a drone. They claim to have developed nothing less than a software drone operator. Have a look at the video below for a glimpse into the future:
As you can see, this is still a concept, but a working one at that. A proof of concept, so to say. This “real-time motion planning for aerial videography” system works a bit differently than operating a drone in real time, as it requires knowledge of several parameters of the shot prior to shooting it:
How wide or how tight should the target of the shot be within the frame?
What should the target’s position be within the frame?
Which viewing angle is desired?
How many targets are there?
These settings can be altered in realtime while the drone is airborne, and the system will take care of dynamically avoiding obstacles both stationary and moving. A key to the system, according to MIT researcher Alonso-Mora, is
that it continuously estimates the velocities of all of the moving objects in the drone’s environment and projects their locations a second or two into the future. This buys it a little time to compute optimal flight trajectories and also ensures that it can get recover smoothly if the drone needs to take evasive action to avoid collision.
The system updates its position projections about 50 times per second.
Work in Progress
The team behind this software drone operator still depends on some tricks like bright-colored shirts in order to work properly. However, this seems to be just a small hurdle towards the goal of letting the drone acquire the perfect shot completely on its own.
Sure, the system still isn’t perfect. What about complex shots like a smooth transition from a super wide shot towards a tight shot of a face, for example? What about circling around an actor before pulling back up in the sky, revealing the landscape? The MIT researchers are not quite there yet, but they’re certainly on their way and it’s hard to spot any limits in this development.
credit: Kaleb Kendall | unsplash.com/@kalebart
Drones like the DJI Mavic already have several autonomous systems on board such as obstacle avoidance, auto follow, auto clearance and so on. This software drone operator developed by MIT researchers is one step ahead in terms of complexity, but I would guess it’s only a matter of time until these things appear in commercially-available products.
Source: The Verge | MIT
What do you think? Is cramming for a drone exam still worth it or would a degree in integrated circuits be the better choice? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Sonyalpharumors has brought to light a source claiming to have unlocked the recording limit on Sony Alpha, RX and NEX cameras as well as lifting the language menu fix on region bound cameras, such as bodies bought in Japan. Here’s some information about this latest Sony Alpha Hack—and a warning to those of you that are tempted to try it.
Sony Alpha hack – proceed with caution
It seems that user ma1co on Personal View has dabbled in Sony hacking in the past, now claiming this practice has been put to good use in removing the 30minute recording limit of Sony cameras like the A7S, A7R, RX100, and A6300.
It’s done by reverse engineering the Play Memories app, meaning any camera that utilizes the Sony software can benefit from this hack. Click here to see the full list of compatible camera bodies, but in a nutshell, the A7S, A7R II & IIs, as well as the A6300 and RX bodies, are all in there.
Some filmmakers will be well acquainted with hacking cameras; Magic Lantern was (and still is) a tremendous asset to Canon DSLRs, packing a shed load of extra features into the otherwise outdated camera bodies, not to mention the Panasonic GH2 hack for increased bit rate recording.
This should be taken with a caution, however. Firstly, we have no first-hand confirmation that this hack works, there is simply a sufficient amount of feedback on the Personal View forums for us to think it’s worth notifying you, the readers (including the above picture) as this could develop into something great.*
*Update – I’ve had a good body of users & peers come forward to confirm that this does in fact work.
Secondly, hacking any camera comes with significant risk and voids any manufacturers warranty. This applies to the Sony Alpha Hack, too. What works for one camera line and their respect hacker is completely different to another (particularly a brand new source).
And lastly is a warning on the actual feature itself. The recording limit is in place to allow the Sony cameras to fall into a different, cheaper tax band, but many users will know that bodies like the A7R II can suffer badly from overheating and will shut down long before the recording limit is reached.
As an occasional video user of the Sony Alpha cameras in B/C/D unit form, I rarely record clips on the A7R II or A7S II longer than a minute or two, therefore, won’t have any use for the Sony Alpha hack in its current state.
However if there is anyone out there that is in a position to test out the hack, do let us know how you get on.
This is certainly something to keep an eye on, with the potential of other features opening up as the hack develops.
Via Sonyalpharumors

Shooting RAW on the Canon 5D mark III DSLR is still very popular. You get stunning 14-bit moving images for a fraction of the price of a “real” RAW camera and the advantages of a full-frame sensor that is good in lowlight. But like many other shooters I learned that it’s not always a good idea to use the 5D mark III RAW for a project. Here I’d like to share some points to consider.
I recently wrote an article outlining the latest development on the Magic Lantern RAW hack for the 5D mark III: Shooting RAW on a Canon 5D mark III in 2014 – What you have to know
In this article I mentioned that using the 5D mark III as a RAW camera is not suitable for productions with bigger budgets as the workflow will slow you down and it is not laid out for professional production. I’d like to elaborate on that.
Certainly there are many great features Magic Lantern RAW provides aside from RAW itself like it improves the overall usability of the camera, runs independently on an SD card, gives you more camera information (eg.: battery status), zebras, peaking, etc.
If you’re interested to shoot RAW on a Canon 5D mark III then we have a step-by-step guide for that: LINK
Above the text here’s a little advert I recently shot on the Canon 5D mark III with its RAW functionality.
Planning and pulling off this project as a 2-man crew was fun and also challenging. But I didn’t expect the camera I chose would slow down the production so much. After this project I realised that it could be unwise to choose Magic Lantern RAW for some commercial productions, so I thought I should share the experience since we’ve written a lot about that camera on cinema5D so far.
In summary I think out of the 2 weeks I needed to shoot this project I lost about 4 days to the 5D. In other words I think I would have been 4 days faster with an Arri ALEXA for example. In a production environment booking even a small crew for 4 additional days usually costs more than renting a more expensive camera. This is of course a different situation and decision from project to project, so let me just share some of the points to consider.
What to consider:
The 5D mark III was not designed to be a RAW cinema camera. It is a photo camera and its ergonomics will not always work for you.
RAW means a lot of data, means more time and storage needed. And working with image sequences…
Accurately checking data can mean downloading and transcoding first, which can be time consuming. On-camera playback is limited.
We had a card failure on a Lexar 1000x card. It fried.
Exposure displayed is not always right.
No timecode.
Bugs. Camera freezes. Resets settings…
complicated RAW workflow
Production notes:
Above I mentioned the most important things I ran into during my production and now I’ll go into those in more detail.
The idea of this production was to put the bonsai tree into a stylised environment to convey how many factors are necessary for life to work. For that I shot each transition to the next stage as a RAW sequence and merged them in post. RAW gave me the control over colours that I needed which I pushed to the extremes. For example at no point was the tree actually brown as it is shown at the beginning and also it wasn’t as green as it is at the end.
The 5D mark III was not designed to be a RAW cinema camera
A cinema camera’s ergonomics work great because its designers spent years to perfect it. The Arri products are a symbol for that approach and the 5D mark III is just a photo camera that lacks exactly this aspect. In a demanding shooting environment it can in my experience not hold up to the standards and will slow you down in one or another way that you didn’t expect.
Accurately checking data can mean downloading and transcoding first
One of the biggest issues for me during this production was to check and evaluate recorded data. I had to check that the transitions were seamless and that everything was 100% there before I went on to build the next stage. Even with the new and updated in-camera playback feature it is not easy to tell how well a shot has turned out.
So what has to be done is ejecting the card, getting the footage into the editing machine, transcoding (which can take a while) and only then you’re able to use the data in your editing software. This was a hassle to say the least. And when you have to do it 100 times a day then you see that you lose a lot of time.
If checking the data is critical, and the built in preview is not enough, then the 5D mark III RAW will definitely slow you down.
There is a new app that allows you to preview RAW files on your computer directly from the card. The app is called MlRAWviewer and we talk about it in the Tips section here. The app might help you preview files more quickly, but it is still very buggy (tried version 1.1.7 and 1.2.2 which still crashed on my machine).
For many shoots the limited new playback functionality mentioned here might be sufficient, but if you’ve got a client who wants to see the results it might be difficult to use the 5D mark III RAW.
We had a card failure on a Lexar 1000x card.
We’re not sure how it happened. The Lexar cards are usually quite ok and eventually Lexar replaced the card within a week. But when a card fries on the mark III then there’s no way to get it back as on other more secure systems.
Exposure displayed is not always right.
The image displayed on the live-view screen is not correct in terms of exposure. The RAW recorded actually seems darker.
No timecode.
Developers are working on embedding timecode in the RAW footage, but so far there is no usable method to use it. This can make workflows and syncing sound more difficult. An option is to use the sound that is embedded in the new .MLV format (more on that here).
Bugs. Camera freezes. Resets settings…
It happened sometimes during the shoot. The camera freezes and the only way to get it to work again is to remove the battery. This happened more often than we wished for and slows you down. Luckily it usually happened between takes. Unfortunately when the camera had one of these lockups it also reset some settings, including where it saved the files. So then we recorded to the wrong card, the camera froze again, etc. This slowed me down a lot and can be embarassing in front of a client.
There are other bugs each new firmware version brings. Others get resolved.
Complicated RAW workflow
In your considerations about the right camera you shouldn’t forget the complicated RAW workflow required when you use the 5D mark III. I just mention this because some people forget that shooting RAW means a lot more data and work involved. But this is also true for other cameras that shoot in a RAW format. Since the recent updates and new apps to convert RAW files the workflow on the 5D mark III has been made less complicated. You’ll find more details in our 5D mark III RAW guide.
Final Thoughts
The 5D mark III RAW can certainly be a valid tool to create stunning footage, there’s no question about that. If you’re a single operator shooter and if you have a tight budget, if you do an indie production or just want to create something beautiful with limited possibilities, then the 5D mark III can get you far.
But I would not recommend the 5D mark III Magic Lantern RAW hack to professional and commercial productions. If you’re not specifically in need for a very small, full-frame, RAW camera then I’d recommend to choose a different tool.
I hope you could benefit from the information in this post. If you have any questions I’ll answer them in the comments.

A year ago we tested the Canon 5D mark III RAW hack by Magic Lantern which upgrades the camera to shoot impressive 14-bit RAW footage. In this year development has progressed and in this post we’re looking at what is currently possible and how to do it.
If you were looking for an Install Guide go HERE
Here’s a rundown of important new features since last year: